MACOMB, Ill. — Tough the campus is closed, Western Illinois University is still housing about 300 students.
"It's pretty weird right now having no one here," WIU sophomore Rowdy Ruholl said. "It does get lonely, even tough you may have a few people to hangout with, just not having that many people around you still feels a bit lonely."
"Some of them are international students who literally couldn`t get home and still cant," Dr. Martin Abraham said. "Some of them are domestic students who don`t really have home to go back to."
Dr. Abraham said the university stayed open to students who still need to live in the dorms. He said there are about 200 different staff members coming to campus everyday, but they are encouraged to stay home. Every time anyone comes to the campus, they will have their temperature taken.
"They check your temperature every day," Ruholl said.
The check points are at every dorm and the dinning hall. Students and staff will get a slip when their temperature is under 100.4 degrees. The pass says they can go inside buildings and be on campus. If it is more than 100.4 degrees, they are encouraged to stay in their dorm.
"That pass is kind of like your meal pass," Ruholl said. "If you don`t have it, they are not going to let you in the building or eat."
Students can walk around campus or visit the dining hall, but you can't sit next to anyone while you eat.
"Every time we canceled something, we implemented a rule, I died a little bit more inside," Dr. Abraham said. "It is so hard to do these things."
With all classes being held online, the university implemented an optional pass fail grading scale.
"It's kind of like a graveyard," Ruholl said.
The university still plans to open it's campus and hold traditional classes for the fall semester.